


a little bruised (but not broken)

by jdphoenix



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 11:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5002621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdphoenix/pseuds/jdphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not Beth who goes after Hannah.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a little bruised (but not broken)

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for that "give me a sentence and I'll give you the next five" meme. It's a little more than five....

“You really don’t have to carry me, you know.”

“Well, your sister’s a lot less likely to kill me if she has to go through you,” Mike laughs, “so I’m just gonna keep you right here, okay?”

Any other time, Hannah would be over the moon to find herself in Mike Munroe’s arms, the damsel to his hero, but tonight she looks away from those beautiful brown eyes, wishing she could disappear into the woods forever. She honestly thought Mike would leave her that note? How stupid is she? And then she had to run out into the snow, no jacket, and slip on some ice. The cracked tailbone hurts a lot, but her pride hurts way worse.

“Aw, jeez. She’s still gonna kill me, isn’t she?”

“No!” Hannah says quickly. “I won’t let her.”

Mike stops the trek back to the cabin and, looking at him again, she can’t help but notice the snowflakes caught in his hair. They make him look even cuter than normal, if that’s possible. “Han,” he says seriously, “it was a joke. I don’t seriously think Beth’s gonna kill me.” He looks around. “Although, this is the place to do it. Probably pretty easy to hide a body up here.” He turns that class president smile on her again. “Remind me never to come up here alone with Beth, okay?”

It’s a good thing the cold already has her cheeks rosy or she’d be really embarrassed by how intense her blush feels right now. “Okay,” she says, feeling a giggle caught in her throat after it. And how dumb is that? Mike made it pretty clear earlier that he is not interested and she’s still mooning over him like some pathetic tween.

He gets moving again and hitches her a little higher in his arms. “How’s the butt?”

“Fine,” she says to the collar of his shirt. His jacket’s around her shoulders. He insisted. She’s really not sure which part of this will be the most mortifying when they get back to the lodge, but wearing his jacket is gonna be up there.

“And, uh, how- how’re you feeling? Other than that?”

She lifts her eyes cautiously to his face. He keeps his focus on the path.

“I’m sorry, okay?” he says after a minute. “It was stupid and I never should’ve gone along with it but everyone always gets so _competitive_ about pranks when we come up here.”

Oh yeah, they do. The girls all came up for a no-boys-allowed last hurrah at the end of summer vacation and ended up with neon green hair courtesy of Josh and Chris and dye in the shampoo bottles, and that was one of the tamer pranks.

“And Jess was so worried about pulling one off, you know how she gets when she’s stressed; I told her I’d help her out. I shouldn’t’ve, I know. Forgive me?”

“Jess?” Hannah echoes. “This was _Jess’s_ prank?”

Mike hisses in a breath. “Uh, yeah. I’m sure she feels bad too though! She kept saying she thought you’d laugh … eventually.”

That actually helps Hannah feel a little better. It was Jess’s idea, and maybe Mike went along with it, but at least he wasn’t so annoyed at her super obvious crush that he thought it up himself as a way to make her stop.

She looks away - because looking at him is _so_ not an option right now - and sees the lights of the lodge through the trees.

“Uh, Mike?”

“Yeah? You okay?” He sounds worried and it’s nice to pretend for a second that it’s not just because if she’s really hurt Beth will murder him and bury his body somewhere on this mountain.

“I’d really like to walk inside myself. Less embarrassing, you know?” She keeps her face turned towards the lights, so she can’t see his face. She can still feel his hands though. They tighten slightly before he sets her down and she kind of hates herself for savoring the feeling. “Thanks.”

They move slow - her butt hurts a lot - but he keeps her steady with a hand at her back and never once pushes her to speed up or complains. He must really feel like shit.

There’s a voice like Beth’s in her head saying he _should_ , but Hannah already feels like shit and she doesn’t want anyone else - especially Mike - feeling that way too.

“I’m not mad,” she says.

“Really? ‘Cause I’d be mad.”

She smiles at her feet. Little steps. One in front of the other. “I know you don’t like me - like that, I mean.”

“Han-”

“I’m not stupid, Mike. Stupid enough to believe it when I’m a little buzzed and heady from the altitude, sure, but not stupid enough to really believe it any other time. And you were never mean about it before tonight-”

“Han, I’m sorry-”

“I know, but I wish you weren’t.” She stops. If they pass these trees, the others will be able to see them and Beth won’t give them two seconds alone the rest of the weekend. If Hannah’s ever gonna say something to Mike, it’s gotta be now. “You’re always so nice to me, it’s impossible not to like you.”

Mike steps back, looking her up and down - not in the way she always wishes he would - and then at the trees like he’s expecting the others to jump out and yell that this is all a double-prank on him. “Are you saying you want me to be a jerk to you?” he asks cautiously.

“No. Yes. I dunno.” She shrugs.

He always treats her with kid-gloves - because he knows about the crush. She knows that. Beth says it’s because he likes the attention, but Hannah thinks he’s just afraid of hurting her feelings. And it’s not like she doesn’t enjoy the attention just as much as he does. Would it be so wrong to let it keep going for their last few months of high school, before they go off and never see each other again? Can’t she keep her silly dreams for a few more months before she has to go be an adult?

“Can we just pretend this never happened?” she asks. “I’d really like that.”

“You think the others are gonna go along with that?”

She smiles hopefully. “I think our class president can convince them?”

He laughs. “Yeah, okay. I’ll shut ‘em up. From now on, you went outside without your jacket on a drunken dare. Sound good?”

She nods once. “Perfect.” She can totally live with drunk stupidity. “And?” she adds before he can push past those last trees.

“Yeah?”

Even with the whole fake story thing, no one’s actually gonna leave her alone after this. She’ll be curled up on the couch with Beth for the rest of the night, if not the whole weekend. Otherwise, she’d do this herself, but since she won’t have the chance…

“Tell Josh I want him to do that prank from last summer again? But this time only on Jess.”

Mike’s eyes widen. “ _Han_ ,” he says, sounding equal parts horrified and impressed. “Jess will _freak_.”

“That’s the point.” It’s meaner than Hannah thinks she’s ever been and she steps out past the trees just to keep Mike from talking her out of it. A little harmless revenge never hurt anyone, and maybe Jess will even laugh about it. Eventually.


End file.
